As the title suggests, no music by Bach is used, but Bach’s contemporaries and somewhat earlier composers are mined to wonderful effect. Clearly, George Gruntz, the arranger/harpsichordist, had a good understanding of Baroque music. He mixed jazz improvisation into these classical works with a natural grace and, at times, joyous abandon. Klaus Doldinger’s soprano sax and clarinet, and Emil Mangelsdorff’s flute are full of vitality yet also respect the material.

On a personal note, it has been fascinating to listen this disc after a forty-year hiatus. As the tunes play, I hear voices from days long ago. For example, Mom, a high school flautist, praises one of the flute pieces in particular. Brother David digs Pachelbel’s Ciacona F-Moll, with its funky ostinato. Dad responds to the minor-into-major strains of William Byrd’s Pavana “The Earl of Salisbury.”

Finally, I can testify to the unexpected power of jazz played on harpsichord. In the early 70s, I encountered a beautifully-maintained harpsichord in a stately British manor, Hothorpe Hall, just begging to be played. I plopped down and played Frank Zappa‘s King Kong, but before long, I heard a howl of protest, followed by a stream of angry words in a Germanic tongue. Apparently, I was profaning the instrument, according to an elderly European gentleman there for a conference of the Lutheran World Federation.

George Gruntz, born in Basel, Switzerland, was a mainstay of the international jazz scene, and he worked with a number of the United States’ finest jazz musicians. He died 10 January 2013.